If you wondered what happened to the owners of the defunct Azteca restaurant in Cocoa, look no farther than Titusville's new Mar Azul Cuban Restaurant.
Mar Azul is a better restaurant than Azteca was, with a huge bilingual (and occasionally misspelled) menu of Cuban dishes, served in a bright, small space, with calming blue walls and funky Cuban decor to fit the blue-sea theme.
There are many ethnic and standard beverages to choose from. We ordered a pitcher of sangria. I've had fruitier versions, but the wine flavor came through strongly and ultimately complemented the meal well.
The hearty cup of soup that started our dinner was wonderful. Labeled as beef, pork and vegetable soup, it was studded with interesting textures, including green plantain and a chunk of corncob.
We ordered the green plantain stuffed with shrimp Creole ($9.95) as an appetizer, big enough to share, with a bright red, spicy tomato sauce. The plantains acted as a pleasantly chewy base for the shrimp-studded sauce.
The bread that accompanied the meal was a little dry, but was a welcome balm to our tongues after the spicy starter.
For the main course, my husband ordered the oxtail entree ($11.95), which was tasty in a tomato sauce.
I was very pleased with my choice, Dorado Mar Azul ($14.95), a grilled chunk of tender mahi topped by a spoonful of shrimp and crab paste and a delicate white sauce that made the dish. The collision of the sauce with the black beans and rice on the plate was a happy one, and sweet plantains, or maduros, completed the combination.
We didn't have much room for dessert, but we gave it the college try, given the large number of choices. My husband ordered the ordinary flan ($2.50), while I chose the chocolate bread pudding covered with rum sauce ($4.75). It was big enough, rich enough and dense enough for two, delicious, and quite rummy, too.
Mar Azul is a great first date spot- the exotic food and setting will give you plenty to talk about and you won't leave hungry.
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